Carson-Newman Game Notes - Coker Home

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The Carson-Newman Lady Eagles (10-5, 7-2 South Atlantic Conference) women's basketball team will face a stern challenge by hosting the Coker Cobras (8-5, 6-3 South Atlantic Conference) at Holt Fieldhouse on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.

Carson-Newman is in first place in the SAC standings with a 7-2 record in conference play. Saturday's opponent Coker is in a five-way tie with Lenoir-Rhyne, Wingate, Catawba, and Lincoln Memorial for second place at 6-3. Carson-Newman has either held or been tied for the top spot in the conference standings all season.

"We're really excited to be this far into our conference season and still be holding the top spot," said Carson-Newman head coach Mike Mincey. "We know that Coker will come in here wanting to get back to their winning ways and they'll want to put a loss on us to get back to tied for first. We just have to do our job here at home and I think if we play with good effort we'll have a good chance of doing that."

Carson-Newman is coming off of a 105-82 win over Brevard this past Wednesday at Holt Fieldhouse. Every player for Carson-Newman scored in the victory, and the 105 points is the most scored by the Lady Eagles this season and in the Mike Mincey era.

Against Brevard, Carson-Newman was led in scoring by the 20 points of sophomore Taylor Peterson (Mt. Juliet, Tenn.). She was joined in double-figure scoring by three other Lady Eagles, as sophomore Tatum Burstrom (Maryville, Tenn.) added 17 points with freshman Kaitlyn Cupples (Clinton, Tenn.) scoring 14 and senior Chante' Markus (Hummelstown, Pa.) adding 13 points in the 23-point win.

Carson-Newman won the first meeting against Coker 71-63 in Hartsville, S.C. on Nov. 23. Once again the Lady Eagles had a second half comeback, as Carson-Newman outscored Coker 35-28 in the second half to improve to 2-0 in conference play.

Against the Cobras the Lady Eagles saw four players reach double-digit scoring, with the 14 points of sophomore Tatum Burstrom (Maryville, Tenn.) and sophomore Jai Jai McLaughlin (Knoxville, Tenn.) leading the way. Burstom and McLaughlin were joined in double-figures by the 12 points of freshman Kaitlyn Cupples (Clinton, Tenn.) and Lashawnda Peacher (Springfield, Tenn.) who scored 10.

Coker, coached by Jenny Finora, is coming off a 78-71 loss at home to Catawba last Wednesday. The Cobras are led in scoring by Tanesha Stenson, who is averaging 16.5 points per game and is third in the SAC in scoring average.

Saturday's game will be carried on the Eagle Sports Network's flagship station WPFT-FM 106.3 FM, with coverage beginning at 1:45 p.m. with "The Countdown to Tipoff," and live video is also available on www.cneagles.com.